Tazzu Blog

Today, I have the honor of spotlighting a relatively new Tazzu member Eric Karjaluoto, who goes by the username karj in the forums.

When asked to tell me a bit about himself, Eric began “I suppose I’d start by saying that I’m interested in making things. Currently I’m one of the people at smashLAB where we make websites.” Eric goes on to say how he feels very lucky to have a great business partner, Eric Shelkie “who is one of the smartest (and nicest) people I know”.

Eric and Eric (yeah! imagine being the receptionist at smashLAB) have worked together for seven years and continue to dream up little adventures and ideas, and have a great deal of fun in the process.

When not at the studio, Karj spends every moment with his family. He and his wife have a 9 month son “who is crawling everywhere, and currently taste testing the bulk of our furniture”. Eric beams “without any question, this is the happiest stage of my life. Every day seems to bring a little surprise with it.”

Design Can Change

I asked Eric to explain Design Can Change, a smashLAB initiative. “Design Can Change is the result of our studio wishing to be less destructive to the environment. As we examined the problem, we started to recognize just how often designers are involved at the concept stage of projects. We felt that if we could encourage designers to make sustainability part of their focus, our community could make a big difference in the battle against climate change.”

To date, the response to the effort has been overwhelming. Hundreds of designers have signed the pledge, tens of thousands have visited the site, and it has been featured in a number of magazines, blogs, forums and sites from around the world. Karj feels that “the interest and dialogue surrounding Design Can Change is a great representation of what designers can do by working together”.

How we can help

The Design Can Change website is beautifully informative, and shows us how being kinder to our environment is something each one of us can do, with practical steps that we can easily adapt to our daily routine. When asked how Tazzu could help, Eric responded “we need to reach people and encourage them to be a part of a solution. As such, we’d ask everyone to visit the site - www.designcanchange.org - and share it with the people they know who design or buy design services.”

Additionally, smashLAB will soon be launching a Design Can Change Forum, which will allow interested parties to share ideas. “I’d ask fellow Tazzu members to drop by and engage in the discussion if they can.”

Eric ended his last statement with a big smile. As passionate as he is about Design Can Change, he never comes across pushy. We stand behind you Eric and thank you!

Also read about SmashLAB on Shared-Vision.com

Technorati Tags: smashlab, Eric Karjaluoto, Eric Shelkie, design can change, graphic design, designer, Jen Duguay, tazzu, networking, global warming, environment